Hamish Watson has been one of the first names on the Scotland team sheet – when fit – for the last seven years. 

His relentless consistency has been the hallmark of a fine international career, with 2021 a particular high point because he was named Six Nations Player of the Championship that spring and become a British and Irish Lions Test player in South Africa that summer.

However, this last season – 2022-23 – was disrupted by a concussion suffered in November which led to him missing the start of the Six Nations, and with Rory Darge and Luke Crosbie both having made strong plays for the Scotland No 7 jersey, Watson same he was racked with anxiety at the start of last week as he awaited a phone call from Gregor Townsend to deliver news of Scotland's final World Cup squad selection.

“The back-row is always hotly contested and that’s especially the case at the moment so I don’t think anything is ever certain,” Watson reasoned. “So, I was pretty nervous while I was waiting for the phone call, to be honest. Then, with Gregor on the phone, it is quite hard to read his tone of voice at times, so it was all pretty tense – and to eventually find out that I had made it was a great moment for me.”

Now, with that major hurdle safely negotiated, Watson has set his sights on making the match-day 23 for Scotland’s key pool matches against South Africa in Marseilles on 10th September and Ireland in Paris on 7th October.

“It is very exciting to go to my second World Cup,” explained Watson, who missed out on the 2015 tournament to Kilted-Kiwi John Hardie – who had only been in the country a few months – and then lasted only 37 minutes at the 2019 tournament in Japan.

“Obviously, four years ago I picked up that knee injury and only played one game so it was a really disappointing tournament for me personally and the team as a whole because we didn’t make it out the pool stage," he continued. "We’re all looking for a much better experience this time around.

“Personally, I know I am in a battle to make the team because Dargey has done really well since coming in – he’s a great player and I think it’s good for both of us to have that competition driving each other on – and Luke Crosbie showed during the Six Nations that he can do a really good job at openside as well."

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Scotland entered the 2019 World Cup with high hopes of reaching the latter stages of the tournament but ended up being blown away by Ireland on the opening weekend and never recovered, with another heavy defeat to Japan in their final pool match meaning they left the party early with the tail between their legs, and calls for Gregor Townsend’s resignation reverberating in their ears.

However, the head coach managed to keep his job, and Watson believes that continuity can be key to this year’s World Cup being a much happier experience for the boys in blue.

“Four years ago, we were in a bit of a transitional period as a squad, and it was Gregor first’s World Cup, so I think he learned a lot from it as well as the players,” he explained.

“I think the team probably wasn’t as well connected back then and we maybe had a few more mini-groups within the group, so I think we are now in a much better place whether that is rugby ability wise or off the field.

“I can’t comment on how everybody else feels, but I can say that the way I feel in sessions and in games is that we are tight-knit squad and on the field and we know exactly what  we want to do now, whereas in 2019 we maybe weren’t as sure of the way we wanted to play, or we knew how we wanted to play but didn’t prepare well enough for it.

“Basically, we’re four years on and been together as a group for a long time now, and I think we’ve learned and grown together.”
Watson added that he is keen to have a hit-out this weekend so that he can be confident of being match-fit and battle-hardened when the team arrives in France in two weekends’ time.

“I found last year quite hard compared to what I was used to – which is getting 80 minutes every week – but I finished the season with Edinburgh quite well and felt I was getting back to my best,” he reasoned. “Now I’m hoping to get some game-time against Georgia but we’ll see what happens

“At this point, it is a case of trying to grab your opportunity when it comes along because the squad is in a really good place, with a lot of spots which are hotly contested.”